If Starlink becomes available in South Africa, will you sign up?

If Starlink becomes available in South Africa, will you sign up?

  • Yes - I will replace my existing Internet package with Starlink

    Votes: 42 15.7%

  • Yes - I will get it alongside my existing Internet package

    Votes: 39 14.6%

  • No - I will not get Starlink

    Votes: 154 57.5%

  • Other

    Votes: 33 12.3%
  • Total voters
    268
Bradley Prior

Bradley Prior

MyBroadband Journalist
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Oct 16, 2018
Messages
4,958
Reaction score
1,572
If Starlink becomes available in South Africa, will you sign up?
 
Odd question given how niche the requirements would be to warrant getting this. 99% of people wouldn't need this.
 
saor said:
Odd question given how niche the requirements would be to warrant getting this. 99% of people wouldn't need this.
Click to expand...
You'll be surprised how many people still rely on satellite which is extremely unreliable and useless. The only thing stopping us from visiting in-laws and for longer periods in a small town in the eastern cape is the lack of reliable internet connection. I can't work from there. Their satellite connection is useless and expensive.
 
RedViking said:
You'll be surprised how many people still rely on satellite which is extremely unreliable and useless. The only thing stopping us from visiting in-laws and for longer periods in a small town in the eastern cape is the lack of reliable internet connection. I can't work from there. Their satellite connection is useless and expensive.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a convenient excuse to not visit the in-laws :p
 
ToxicBunny said:
That sounds like a convenient excuse to not visit the in-laws :p
Click to expand...
It does help :ROFL:

I think they are currently paying something like a R1300 a month for satellite (morclick or something), that excludes installation costs of course, but you barely get a couple of kilobytes upload and lucky if you get 1mb download, and that is the fastest package. It is also very intermittent. I get better connection with my Telkom Fixed LTE, but only when I manage to "catch" a signal with the poynting antenna whenever I go there. Of course there is lots of power outages and then everythign is offline as the towers dont have battery backup.
 
  • Angry
Reactions: rdm
RedViking said:
It does help :ROFL:

I think they are currently paying something like a R1300 a month for satellite (morclick or something), that excludes installation costs of course, but you barely get a couple of kilobytes upload and lucky if you get 1mb download, and that is the fastest package. It is also very intermittent. I get better connection with my Telkom Fixed LTE, but only when I manage to "catch" a signal with the poynting antenna whenever I go there. Of course there is lots of power outages and then everythign is offline as the towers dont have battery backup.
Click to expand...

Yeah I unfortunately know the reality of those living outside of urban areas...

Sketchy connectivity, poor power, etc etc... and its just the way it is these days, unless you have buckets of money to fend for yourself with solar and boreholes and you possibly have a decent WISP in the area.
 
I have a client who has a game farm and when they fly into SA and stay at the farm they are forced to use a 5Mbps WISP connection. So a Starlink connection will allow their kids to do their school work remotely without hassle.
 
ponder said:
No, I have fiber.

BUT if I lived in the bundus with no fiber available I'd sign up in a heartbeat!
Click to expand...
Can you imagine the frustration of owning a massive game farm (5000 hectare farm) and the fastest internet connection you can get is a 5Mbps WISP because even the cellular signal is ****. Sometimes all the money in the world can't solve Africa's problems.
 
killerbyte said:
Can you imagine the frustration of owning a massive game farm (5000 hectare farm) and the fastest internet connection you can get is a 5Mbps WISP because even the cellular signal is ****. Sometimes all the money in the world can't solve Africa's problems.
Click to expand...

I've visited people in that scenario before for a short stay and you wanna pull your hair out!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter